Hero Armed Customer Stops Armed Robbers At Milford Burger Joint

MILFORD, CT — A man went to buy a hamburger Friday night from a local business and within a matter of minutes came out a hero. What happened inside the Milford SmashBurger Friday night closely resembled something you'd find in a crime drama but this was real life.

Two men, one armed with a .22 caliber handgun, entered the 1590 Boston Post Road eatery Friday night in a brazen robbery attempt. The men ordered all of the workers and customers into the kitchen at gunpoint, police said. One man, Gregory McLaurin, 22, of Level Street, New Haven, told the manager to open the safe or he would shoot her in the head, police said.

The manager opened the safe and McLaurin and his accomplice, Royshon Ferguson, 21, of Norton Street, New Haven took the money out and Ferguson also cleaned out the front cash registers, police said.

At that moment, a customer, who had a permit to own a gun, said he saw an "opportunity to change the situation," police said. When Ferguson was upfront, the Good Samaritan pulled his gun on McLaurin and McLaurin made a run for it, police said.

Now the customer was in the front of the store with Ferguson, who was armed, fought and the customer was able to knock the gun out of Ferguson's hand and then the accused also fled, police said.

Both McLaurin and Ferguson ran from the area and were quickly caught byMilford K-9 Officer Owens and K-9-Zar hiding in the woods nearby, police said. Both were located closeto each other and Ferguson was in possession of a large amount of cash, police said.

It was later discovered that during the chaos of the situation two Smash Burger employees had also taken cash that had been in the safe after Ferguson and McLaurin had run out of the building, police said.

Jamal McNeil, 26, of Hill Street, Hamden and Casey Deloma, 19, of Holly Street, Milford, are accused of being in possession of money that would have been in the safe but was left behind during the robbery, police said. The employees were charged with sixth-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit sixth-degree larceny.

Ferguson is charged with the following:

Robbery 1st, Conspiracy to Commit Robbery 1st, Threatening 1st, Larceny 4th, Kidnapping 1st with a Firearm, Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping 1st with a Firearm, Carrying a Pistol without a Permit, Carrying a Dangerous Weapon, Interfering with an Officer.

McLaurin is charged with the following:

Robbery 1st, Conspiracy to Commit Robbery 1st, Threatening 1st, Larceny 4th, Conspiracy to Commit Larceny 4th, Kidnapping 1st with a Firearm, Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping 1st with a Firearm, Carrying a Pistol without a Permit, Criminal Mischief 3rd, Interfering with an Officer.

Both Ferguson and McLaurin were held on $500,000 bond to appear in Milford Court on Jan. 22.

Images via Milford Police